Music in V. F. Odoevsky's life and its place in tale “Salamandra”

This article considers “musicality” of the story “Salamandra” (1844), its Finnish tunes, and singing to the kantele. It was an establised tradition to write prose inserting poems or songs into it in the period of romanticism. V F. Odoevsky also employed this writing technique. In his works, songs are sung to a kantele, which is a wonderful instrument taken by the writer from the epos “Kalevala”. Odoevsky creates an image of the main character through lyrics and music. Elsa, a representative of the Finnish nation, is presented as an ideal type of a person comprehending the truth. She is a child of nature, the savage who doesn’t perceive the civilized world. She is a creative person, she plays and sings. The Finnish woman with her songs and a musical instrument is very harmonious. It is difficult to separate them from each other. These components all together make up a Finnish character, give color to the northern people. The old man Rusi and the wind also play the kantele in Odoevsky’s novel instilling by this a rather special mood to the work. Writing about Finnish culture and poetry, the writer expands and deepens his conviction that a poetic beginning of the work is better revealed through music. Music is more capable than other types of art, it can tell about the inner world of a man.